


Whitewater

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Families of Choice, Fluff, Missing Scenes, Multi, Romance, Slice of Life, episodic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-04-18 23:08:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4723703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of short pieces exploring implied and extrapolated scenes in the series; a slice of life look at the Teen Titans in between what we see in the episodes. This is a tiny bit AU right at the beginning, but it doesn't really affect anything later on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 001. Refuge

**Author's Note:**

> Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or we grow weak, and at last some crisis shows us what we have become.  
> -Brooke Foss Westcott

(This is the slightly AU chapter).

 

**001\. Refuge**

She didn't think she'd ever know why she did it.

But, well, she knew Starfire had no place to stay. She also knew the alien was likely following Robin already. Cyborg could take care of himself, obviously. It was clear the little shapeshifter hadn't wanted Cyborg to leave. She didn't know how, but she had ended up going out for pizza with Cyborg and Beast Boy after Robin and Starfire had left. She had split the cost with Cyborg, and if anyone asked, she was merely concerned that Beast Boy was in Jump City with no money. That was all it was.

No money, and no place to stay, she realized as she followed him to the park. He waited until no one was looking, then jumped into a tree and transformed into a squirrel mid-jump and darted into a hole in the trunk. She could see a green bushy tail flick out.

Sighing, she settled at the foot of the trunk and began meditating. When it began to rain, she flicked up a shield of dark energy and continued. She meditated well into the evening and by the time she came out of her trance the park was empty. Well, almost empty.

"Beast Boy," she said quietly, not moving from her lotus position, "shouldn't you have gone home by now?"

He scurried down beside her and resolved into human form, settling back on his haunches and looking at her. "I could ask you the same question. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if you lived out here in the dark with the bats." His voice strained slightly. She opened one eye and looked at him.

"I live nearby," she said calmly. "Your turn."

"Ah…." He rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I kinda….came here with no money….so, yeah. No one objects to another coupla animals in the park, yeah? Even if they are green." He laughed weakly. Raven dropped all pretense of not paying attention and turned to fully face him.

"How long have you been living in the park?" she asked him sternly.

He dropped his gaze and wouldn't look at her, drawing his arms around his knees and rubbing the fabric slightly. He mumbled something she couldn't make out. She stared at him and he winced before repeating, louder, "..A few…m-months…"

Raven did not reply this time. After several minutes of awkward silence, she stood and began walking away. Beast Boy felt his heart sink and curled in on himself a little more.

He heard Raven stop, a few feet away, and turn back towards him.

"Are you coming?"

He scrambled to his feet and followed her.

Raven unlocked the door to her apartment and wasted several minutes waiting for the shapeshifter to enter first. When she glanced back at him, annoyed, she realized he was busy waiting for her. Sighing, she stepped in and he followed slowly. She locked the door with a tiny flare of her aura before looking at him again. He was staring around the room, expression caught somewhere between surprise and fear.

"You look like you've never been indoors before."

The dry comment snapped him out of it. He swallowed once and smiled, but it was the smile he'd had when he was trying to talk Cyborg into hanging out with him before the aliens attacked- weak, trying, not quite a true smile. "It's been a while."

Raven studied him as he edged further into the room. He was drenched and shivering, eyes wide and ears back, and she felt a sharp stab of pity as his gaze darted around the room. As near as she could tell, he was marking any possible exits, which was exactly what she would have done in his place.

 _Not that I'd ever be in his place._ Raven had the sense to arrive in Jump with enough money to hold her until she could find a job. She hadn't found one yet, but neither was she anywhere near running out of money.

"That," she said, pointing to a doorway across from where they stood, "is my room. You don't go in there, ever, period. Over there," she pointed again, "kitchen. If you can clean it you can use it, if you can cook it you can eat it, it wouldn't be a good idea to rely on me for food."

He didn't reply and she moved further into the apartment, opening the closet and tossing him a towel. "Bathroom's through there, go shower and I'll find some sheets or blankets."

By the time she turned back, he was gone and she could hear the shower starting. If he'd really been living in the park for the past few months he probably was pretty eager to have a shower.

…She hoped.

When Beast Boy got out of the shower- quite some time later, since he'd been reveling in the feeling of hot water- Raven was nowhere to be seen. There was, however, a deep violet blanket folded neatly on the couch with a matching pillow stacked on top of it. He'd shrugged back into his Doom Patrol uniform since he had nothing else to wear. It was dirty, but he'd usually shifted into an animal form in the park, so it wasn't too bad. At least it had mostly dried off now. He tugged the blanket over the couch and curled up under it, sighing in bliss- warm and dry and comfortable, with something soft to sleep on.

Raven stayed up later than usual, uneasy about having someone else in her living space. To say she was territorial would have been an understatement- her space was _her_ space, end of conversation.

It was just for the night, she assured herself, going into the kitchen for a cup of tea. She glanced at her couch as she passed it. The changeling was curled up beneath the blanket with his arms wrapped around the pillow, only his head visible. He was still very deeply asleep. She guessed sleeping in the park hadn't been terribly restful, especially if he'd usually shifted into something like a squirrel that had natural predators to watch out for.

Thunder burst outside and Raven instinctively glanced at the window. Beast Boy ducked the rest of the way under the blanket without waking up.

 _He's just here to wait out the storm,_ she told herself. _In the morning he'll find somewhere else to stay._

He was sick, as it turned out. He woke up at midday with a coughing fit that caused him to fall off the couch. Staying through the storm became staying until he was better, and one night became three days. Three days became a week. A week became two weeks. He'd long since recovered by then, but she never quite seemed to get around to kicking him out. She went out one day and came back with a set of clothes in his size, handing them to him without saying anything. They fought with the thermostat constantly- she liked the cold, he liked heat. They fought over meals, though not as much, since she ate whatever was easy to make and drank a lot of herbal tea and he ate all her fruits and vegetables. Their sleeping patterns clashed. He was semi-nocturnal and not very good at staying quiet, and the noise from the old half-broken television she kept and he insisted on trying to use kept her up at night. They fought over everything, really.

But he continued to sleep on her couch, and she could feel the nervous hesitation in him each argument. This had become his sanctuary and he really didn't want to give it up, but it was her home and she was well within her rights to kick him out. She held back in each argument to keep her powers in check. Occasionally they would get a call on their communicators from Robin, asking for their help in a bank robbery or a bomb threat or in catching a villain.

Beast Boy's 'one night' was approaching a month when they got the call. Between the two of them, Robin and Cyborg had somehow gotten permission to build on the island, using the fallen spaceship as their framework. The two of them and Starfire would be moving in as soon as possible, and would they like to come too?

The calls were separate, the others never having realized Beast Boy was staying with Raven, and the answers were separate but they were the same.

Raven asked Cyborg to see the blueprints early on. She changed them so that her room was next to Beast Boy's. If he noticed, he didn't comment.

She would never admit it, but it had become easier to sleep when she could hear him in the next room.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a very basic familiarity with the comics, not being a regular reader, so while there will be mentions and possible cameos this is based near entirely on the animated series. 
> 
> A note on the name: I have been whitewater rafting twice in my life, and the second time I was asked if I wanted to swim the rapids. 
> 
> Do NOT say yes to that offer.
> 
> My group had to come after me clinging to a rock downstream, but it remains both the most terrifying and the most exhilarating moment of my life, and since it's also since become my go-to metaphor for life itself the title simply seemed appropriate.


	2. Snapshots

**002\. Family Ties**

_Continuity: Anytime_ **  
**

Beast Boy didn't look up as a light thump sounded beside him on the branch. He stayed crouched, shifting his weight slightly to keep his perch, and continued to watch the families playing in the park.

"Beast Boy?"

He turned his head, just slightly, and met Robin's worried gaze. He didn't answer, just turned back and watched a mother and father setting out a picnic lunch. Their young son, probably only three or four years old, played nearby. He felt Robin settle next to him and join him watching.

"Makes you jealous, doesn't it," Robin said quietly some time later. The young mother had picked up her son and was swinging him around her, laughing.

"Yeah." Beast Boy sighed. "It's selfish, though. Cy and the girls have had less. Mento and Elastigirl adopted me- so I _have_ parents, really."

Robin smiled sadly. "I know what you mean. Besides training me, Batman adopted me. He is my father, now, but…" He looked back at the family in the park. "But it's never quite the same, is it."

"No," Beast Boy breathed quietly, his gaze almost hungry. "It's not."

Robin stood and extended his hand, pulling Beast Boy to his feet and looking towards Titan's Tower. "C'mon. Let's go home. The rest of our little family is worried about you."

* * *

**003\. Learn to Fly**

_Continuity: Anytime_ **  
**

For Cyborg, the Tower and the Titans was a chance to find somewhere he belonged. For Starfire, it was a sanctuary, the safest she had ever felt. For Raven and Beast Boy, it was a home and a family.

For Robin, it was proving himself. It was growing up.

It felt like learning to fly.

* * *

**004\. Insomniacs**

_Continuity: Any Valentine's Day_

Robin had been awake for a very long time. The next day was Valentine's Day and he wanted to do something nice for Starfire. This was one Earth holiday she had never quite grasped, so he felt safe in giving her a valentine. There was just one problem.

He kept getting interrupted.

First it was Raven, peering over his shoulder and nearly giving him a heart attack. "You spelled Koriand'r wrong," her monotone commented, making him jump and drop the half-completed valentine. "There's an apostrophe at the end." Raven fetched her herbal tea and swept back out of the room.

Then Starfire herself wandered in, looking for food for Silkie as Robin desperately tried to hide. He was lucky; the alien girl was half-asleep and didn't see him.

After that he was left alone for a while. Robin sighed, thinking he was in the clear, until a flash of lightning sent a green cat scrambling out from beneath the couch and hiding beneath the coffee table. Robin ended up carrying a quivering, half-awake cat into Beast Boy's room as fast as possible and dropping him on the bed. When he returned to the common room, Cyborg was leaning over the coffee table and looking over the valentine. "If you wanted privacy," the older teen commented, "you should have tried doing this in your room."

Robin's frustrated cry could be heard on the mainland.

"Does no one in this Tower _sleep!_ "

* * *

**005\. Warmer**

_Continuity: During_ Snowblind

Raven huddled a little bit closer to the wall of the igloo. She was sharing the wall formed by the T-ship with Robin and Beast Boy, the smaller green boy crouched low between them and shivering like mad. Across from them, Cyborg had long since shut down for the night, and Robin was extremely busy attempting to stare a hole through the wall. Neither of them noticed when Beast Boy gave up getting warm on his own and ducked under Raven's cape. He moved quickly, as if maybe if he did it fast enough she wouldn't notice.

No such luck. Raven glared down at the green fuzz poking out of her cape. "What do you think you're doing?"

Beast Boy looked up at her and smiled sheepishly. "St-staying w-warm?"

"And _why_ does that involve my cloak, exactly? Change into a polar bear, or a wolf."

He drew himself up slightly and glared back. The effect was rather ruined by his wildly chattering teeth. "H-how d'you 'spect me to k-keep a form when I'm fr-freezin' and asleep? I'd l-lose it soon as I wasn' awake 'nymore."

Raven continued to glare at him. He continued to glare back. Robin continued to glare at the wall, oblivious to his companions.

Beast Boy smirked. Raven was shivering.

Finally, sighing, Raven relented. Beast Boy huddled inside her cloak and laid his head against her shoulder, asleep almost instantly.

And Raven had to admit, she was _much_ warmer.


	3. Tag

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think aside from the first chapter this is really the only one that's one longer shot. And I know it gets a little silly, but I'm rather attached to it.

* * *

**Whitewater**

**006\. Tag**

_Continuity: ...In all honesty, I don't think this timeframe even exists._

Birthdays were interesting at Titan's Tower.

After Raven's disastrous first party, her celebrations were kept short and simple, although the 'Beast Boy pinata game' became something of a ritual. Unfortunately for Beast Boy, it took Starfire a while to understand she was supposed to hit the _pinata_ , not her teammate. Cyborg's birthday consisted of a traditional race- Cyborg in the T-car, Robin on the R-cycle, and Beast Boy and the girls in the air. Only Robin and Cyborg really enjoyed this; Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven had their own secret tradition of landing at the halfway mark and circling back to a small café where the three of them would eat lunch and rest before Raven teleported them to the finish line, always just after the winner had crossed it. Both Cyborg and Robin seemed to have difficulty with the concept that flying required energy. Raven had found she quite enjoyed the time she spent at the café. The three of them didn't spend much time together without the others there, and she could usually just sit back and sip her tea while Beast Boy and Starfire fired off jokes at each other. Each of them probably only understood about half of what the other said, but they laughed all the same.

Starfire's birthday was some strange Tamaranean festival and Robin's, at her insistence, was also a Tamaranean celebration. His birthday had been even harder to figure out than Raven's, and the others had only half-heartedly protested Star's idea. It was amusing. Beast Boy was the only one to actually tell Robin just _how_ amusing it was and consequently was the only one running laps around Titan's Tower the next morning.

But Beast Boy's birthday….Beast Boy's birthday was by far the most fun. For his birthday, they played laser tag.

When he had first chosen that, they'd all been surprised. Didn't they spend enough time fighting? In the end, though, Robin got them a laser tag game for the entire day. The rules for the Titans were slightly different from anyone else's.

Basically? Don't destroy the course, or at least rebuild it if you do. Powers? Allowed. Completely allowed. And most interesting, no one was quite sure how, but many other Titans had found out about the traditional game and now joined in each year. Kid Flash and Jinx had joined first, then the Titans East, then Hotspot and Wildebeest, then others. It became a yearly free-for-all, though alliances tended to hold during the games. The original Titans tended to team up and the Titans East tended to do the same, with one noticeable exception for each; on this day each year, Robin and Bumblebee were fair game for everyone.

So right now, Raven was absently considering whether or not her leader knew that Beast Boy had been stalking him as a bat for the better part of the past ten minutes and shooting at the back of his laser-responsive backpack every chance he got. Not that it really _counted_ counted- the game was quite clear on what constituted a 'kill shot'- but it _was_ worth points. 

She decided against it; he'd find out when they received scorecards at the end. Each year's scorecards were posted on a bulletin board back at the Tower in the hallway by Beast Boy's room. Robin had the highest score, despite having everyone but Bee against him. Much to everyone else's disgust Robin _always_ had the highest score. Last year they'd even faced off in an everyone-together-versus-Robin round, with even Bumblebee going after him- and _he still won_. Twenty to one, and he still won!

So this year, they had a plan. They had five two-men stealth teams and five two-men diversion teams, all designed to take out Robin. Beast Boy and Raven were the Night stealth team, Starfire and Cyborg were the Day diversion team. (Beast Boy wasn't allowed to name teams after this game, but he'd gotten away with it this time).  Each diversion team was paired with a stealth team this way- Good Luck and Bad Luck, Fight and Flight, Fire and Water, and Stars and Sky were the others. This attack had been planned ever since _last_ year, and this time Robin wasn't going to win.

They hoped.

Raven's communicator blinked silently. For today only, Robin's was on a different frequency, and it was Bad Luck's job- Kid Flash and Jinx- to make sure it _stayed_ on that frequency. She clicked the answer button, raising her left arm in the signal for Beast Boy to land. He hit her padded arm as a hawk and peered at the communicator with her. The two of them had been teamed together the year before as well, and after the lacerations on her arm from _that_ time, she'd made sure she had a gauntlet _this_ time.

Cyborg's face looked back at them, his voice pitched low so it wouldn't carry- Robin had been known to track them by sound before. "Day Diversion is in five minutes at the Crimson Rock. Night, get into position. Stars and Sky, be ready to run backup. Titans, go!" The communicator blinked out. Raven tossed Beast Boy into the air where he became a bat again, wincing as his claws even scored through the leather and darkly promising herself revenge on whoever kept pairing them together. She suspected Cyborg, but she couldn't prove anything.

She sank into the ground and reappeared at Crimson Rock. The arena was split into four color coded sections; green, red, yellow, and blue. Crimson Rock was Robin's favorite place to make a stand, and a good place for it. The massive rock had a cleft at its base just large enough for one person to squeeze into and Robin liked to back into the crevice and then hold it against all comers; the tactic had a good success rate.

_Not this time_ , Raven thought, smirking, as she edged into attack position. Beast Boy flew down and crouched on her shoulder as a raven. It had been Bee's decision that they should all take their codenames seriously, so the two of them were expected to come from the dark itself when they did strike. "Night is about to fall," Raven murmured into her cloak clasp.

"Day is ready to break," came the fizzy response. Raven waited for the signal.

It never came.

Instead of the blue wash of Cyborg's sonic cannon, white light suddenly drenched the arena. Beast Boy pressed close to her shoulder with a harsh _caw_ as she threw up her free arm defensively. When she lowered it, blinking, she had to refrain a curse. One of the red rocks nearby cracked with dark energy.

The Batsignal was stretched across the ceiling, washing away all the darkness of the laser tag course. Night no longer had a place in this fight.

Robin stood atop Crimson Rock, smirking, one hand cocked in the "Bring it!" gesture. Raven could see the Day team hidden across from herself and Beast Boy, Starfire hovering with an expression of disbelief and Cyborg gritting his teeth. Raven's eyes panned across the area, seeing the Stars team made up of Speedy and Argent still in their back-up position. Sky…Raven's eyes narrowed. She could see Aqualad, looking frantic, but Bumblebee was nowhere in sight.

That mystery was resolved a moment later, when a grinning Bumblebee resumed her full size beside Robin. "Y'all should know better than to mess with your leaders," she smirked, before launching straight at Cyborg and Starfire with a loud "Hyaaah!"

Raven growled, low in her throat, and gave her own orders as Cyborg and Speedy did the same.

"Night, fall!"

"Day, break!"

"Stars, shoot!"

Robin somersaulted from the rock and landed by planting his feet on Aqualad's chest, knocking him backwards into Argent, then drew his laser gun and fired off several shots in quick succession. Aqualad, Argent and Speedy were down. Bumblebee took out Starfire and Cyborg with the same speed, flashing rapidly from large to small and firing her laser at the response units on Cyborg's arm and strapped across Starfire's chest.

Fight and Flight skidded into the arena, consisting of Mas and Menos of Flight and Hotspot and Wildebeest for Fight. "Bee snuck off and took out the others before coming here," Hotspot called to Raven, before dodging out of the path of a birdarang. Raven's eyes narrowed and she hovered into the air, throwing up a shield as Beast Boy shifted into an osprey and walked cautiously down her gauntleted arm. He spread one wing in front of the cloak clasp where her laser response was located and ducked his head to block the necklace he wore that held _his_ laser response. Raven drew her laser gun carefully from beneath her cloak, where it was holstered along with Beast Boy's, took aim, and fired. Bee was down.

Unfortunately, she'd managed to take out the twins first. Robin came straight for them, now, and Beast Boy launched himself into the air with a screech and went into a speed-dive, herding the Boy Wonder towards Raven and Hotspot. Beast Boy's animal forms gave him an advantage, making him nearly impossible to hit, but at the same time they also meant he had to rely on his partner to cause any damage.

Robin allowed himself to be led towards them, but back flipped out of the way at the last moment, allowing the fired lasers to hit Hotspot and Wildebeest. Raven shielded just in time, before telekinetically throwing a rock at the back of Robin's head. As she'd expected, he wasn't prepared for it. He fell to his knees with a low curse as Beast Boy winged back to her and settled on the gauntlet as an eagle, screaming harshly and mantling his wings. She could feel the enjoyment coming off him in waves. She drank it in and let it go in a wash of black energy, throwing Robin across the area and knocking him against Crimson Rock. He slumped to the ground, shaking his head dizzily.

Raven swept towards him, swinging her laser into position. Beast Boy clung tightly to her arm. She aimed, took her shot…and Robin lurched out of the way, bringing up his laser and blasting both her and Beast Boy in quick succession. The Boy Wonder grinned as the Batsignal clicked off and the buzzer signaling a winner sounded. Beast Boy returned to human with a groan, annoying Raven, as he was still on her arm and brought her to the ground with the sudden shift in weight.

Robin had won _again._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who thinks Robin cannot win against twenty-to-one odds, firstly, I invite you to watch part I of Apprentice. Secondly, I invite you to meet my friend Lev, who wins every bloody time.
> 
> And yes, they are playing a one-hit-kill game. Can you imagine how long it would take this lot to finish otherwise?


	4. Chapter 4

**Whitewater**

**Snapshots II**

**007\. Different**

_After Season Four_

It had started off as a game of truth-or-dare. There had been a late night battle with Dr. Light, leaving everyone too energized to sleep. Dr. Light had, unfortunately, taken out several power grids before the Titans had taken him down, so the city was on emergency power for the next few days. For Titan's Tower, this meant security systems only. All the power was diverted to keeping the security running and to Cyborg's recharge unit.

They didn't even have _light_.

So they were sitting around the table in the common room, lit only in the blue wash from Cyborg's shoulder light. They had yet to make it past the first dare. Raven had half-expected it to be someone daring Robin to take off his mask, but no one was quite willing to cross that line. Instead, the first dare had been for Beast Boy to take of his gloves.

Now they'd all been sitting in a silent circle for ten minutes staring at their hands on the table. Beast Boy had been edgy enough about the dare that Robin had taken off his gloves first, revealing hands that were scarred but very much human. Starfire had placed her hand palm down on the table beside his, orange flesh already clearly visible. Cyborg had then flattened his huge palm against the table and glanced at Raven. She had sighed, but set her hand in the middle of the table as well.

Beast Boy's green hand had joined them. His fingers had no nails, but when he pressed down slightly on the table, claws flexed from their tips. He had winced slightly at everyone's gaze on him. After that, everyone had been staring silently at their hands set next to each other- gray, green, orange, metal, human.

Not surprisingly, it was Starfire who broke the silence. She reached across the table and grasped Beast Boy's hand in her own, turning it so that their palms met, and then looked him in the eyes. "See? We are not so different after all."

Robin smiled and his hand joined theirs, wrapping around Starfire's. Raven reached out to grasp Beast Boy's hand as well. Cyborg's metal hand engulfed them all. An understanding passed between them; they might be different, but here, they were home.

Beast Boy looked at Raven. It was her turn, she realized.

"Truth," Raven breathed.

**008\. Girl Talk**

_Between_ Titan Rising _and_ Betrayal

Raven stared at Terra.

Terra stared at Starfire.

Starfire stared at Raven.

Raven broke the silence. "Does anyone here actually have any idea what girls normally sit around and talk about?"

Starfire shrugged. "On Tamaran, I did not have many female friends."

Terra shrugged, too, looking just as lost. "I've been living in caves."

Raven sighed, tossed aside her pillow, and stood up to leave Starfire's room. "And I'm from another dimension. Guess your 'girl talk' isn't going to work out, Starfire."

Hiding in the hallway, all three boys cursed.

**009\. Midwinter**

_Anytime_

Cyborg walked out of Beast Boy's room, looked at Robin, and shook his head. "I swear to you, man, I don't know how he's doin' it, but he's hibernating. He must've picked it up from his animal forms."

Robin groaned and dropped his head into his hands. A freak storm had left them snowed in for the past week, and by all weather reports, for the next week as well. While he accepted that they were stuck in the Tower for a while yet, and all villains were effectively trapped inside as well, he still would have preferred to have the team at full power. He looked up again. "Where's Starfire?"

Raven materialized in the hallway behind him and spoke, making him jump. "She's in her room. She said she 'wished to try the hibernating that Beast Boy seems so intent upon.'"

Robin looked ready to tear out his hair.

Three hours later, he sat at the kitchen table with Raven and Cyborg, morosely moving a game piece around a battered board.

"Man, since when do we even _have_ board games?" Cyborg wondered out loud as he held out his hand for Robin to fork over the play money. Robin did so, grumbling, wondering exactly when Cyborg had gotten Boardwalk. Raven's powers flicked out and knocked the dice into the air, then nudged her piece across the board into the jail when they landed on doubles for the third time in a row.

"Starfire bought them a few months ago," Raven replied without looking up from her book. Both boys felt it was deeply unfair that despite the fact Raven had been reading the entire time and had spent probably half the game in jail, she was still winning. Sighing, Raven set down the book and stood up, shaking her cloak into place. "I'm going to bed."

In the morning, Robin made some interesting discoveries. One: Demons can hibernate and Two: Cyborg had an extended 'sleep' mode.

Robin was going to be very bored for the next week or so.

**010\. Stormsong**

_After Season Five_

Thunder boomed so nearby it sounded as though it came from within the Tower. Starfire squeaked and dove behind the couch, Beast Boy jumped and became a turtle in midair. Even Cyborg flinched.

Robin stood up and glanced at the window- the window that made up the _wall_ , and it occured to him that maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Lightning can strike through glass.

Thunder sounded again, lightning flashed and lit the common room as bright as day. Turtle Beast Boy was now hiding beneath the hem of Raven's cloak and Starfire appeared to be burrowing into the couch along with Silkie. Robin sighed.

"Everyone, into the basement, come on." Cyborg had to pick up Starfire and Silkie, and Raven had to carry Beast Boy, but they all made it down the stairs and into the basement. Robin took a birdarang from his belt and slit open a box still packed from when they had chased the Brotherhood of Evil. Two thick, fluffy sleeping bags spilled out, and Robin laid one across the cold cement floor and flung the other on top of the five friends.

It was Cyborg's comment that calmed down Starfire. "It looks like you're about to have your first real Earth slumber party, Star."

An hour and twenty minutes later they were huddled in the middle of a fort Beast Boy and Starfire had constructed out of boxes, tumbled together in a nest of blankets, very warm, very comfortable, and no one noticed that the storm had long been over.

**011\. Blend In**

_Continuity: After Season Five_

The others had long since gone to see Terra, although only Beast Boy had made any attempt to speak to her. Now, Raven watched her from a distance, and came to two conclusions.

The first was that Terra _did_ remember. She chose to leave it behind, to move on and blend in, and Raven thinks that's probably a good thing, because she knows deep down none of them will ever trust anyone enough again to let anyone else join- or rejoin- the Titans. Terra had _chosen_ to become just another anonymous teenager.

The second conclusion was: Raven was jealous.

**012\. World's End**

_Continuity: During_ The End _Part 2_

Cyborg had been wandering through the ruined city for a good ten minutes when he heard it. At first, he thought his mind was playing tricks on him. The civilians had all been turned to stone, and he was deeply afraid that the remaining Titans had suffered the same fate. He had not seen any of them since they'd been thrown….

It wasn't his imagination. Someone was singing.

"World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed, dummy with the rapture and the revered and the right? Right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched…It's the end of the world as we know it, it's the end of the world as we know it…"

There was only one person, only one high, piping voice that could possibly be singing _that_ at this point in time. Starfire didn't know the song, and Robin wouldn't be singing, which left…

"It's the ennnndd of the wooorrld as we know it…"

Cyborg skidded around the corner and nearly ran into Beast Boy. He caught him and hugged him, relieved that at least one of his family was still alive and well.

"And I feel fiiine…" Beast Boy sang softly, grinning up at his best friend.

"C'mon, Cy, let's go find the others."

**013\. Flyswatter**

_Anytime_

She hadn't meant to do it.

It had started innocently enough, really. She had been reading, and a fly had been buzzing around her head, and she had swatted it. Simple. It happened all the time.

Except….

Except she hadn't noticed the fly was green. Except it had fallen from her hand and turned into Beast Boy as he hit the ground, barely conscious, badly injured. Except that after he had coughed out a weak _sorry_ and smiled sheepishly up at her, he'd passed out.

Three days ago.

So now Raven was sitting beside his bed in the medical bay, exhausted from healing a broken arm and leg and several cracked ribs, and staring at her hands where she imagined bloodstains. There weren't any, but all the same, she imagined there were.

She looked up at a tiny noise. Beast Boy had shifted and opened one eye, the one not swollen shut. He grinned weakly when he saw her. "Hey, Rae. So, uh…wanna help me get rid of all our flyswatters?"

She lunged over the bed and hugged him, ignoring when all the pillows in the room burst into feathery clouds.

"Don't you _ever_ do that again!"

**014\. Love You**

"Love you."

They were two simple words, a quiet phrase spoken every night before they went to sleep. She doesn't remember when the tradition started although she imagines it involved something breaking. Probably a light bulb. It always seemed to be a light bulb.

His masked eyes are watching her, waiting for his answer, smiling gently. It isn't a romantic gesture, not really. They are words he has said to the other Titans as well and meant just as strongly, more strongly when it came to a certain alien princess. They are words addressed not to his team, nor even to his friends, but to his family. He is not the only one who says them- most often they are delivered by green eyes and a fanged grin, though she is not quite sure those are platonic, as Robin's undoubtedly are.

She admits only to herself how her heart seems to swell whenever she hears those two innocent words from any of her family. They are her lifeline. This is her home. This is somewhere she belongs.

"Love you too."


End file.
